Seth Apter's Blog, page 108

Playing Favorites: Chapter 9

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.
Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...


Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
------------------------------------------Theresa Wells Stifel "She is a new favorite as I enjoy the tension between awkward and beautiful"
Marit Barentsen "If it be your will. The label 'scrapbooker' never fit me well, and it took me some time to discover why. I found the answer when I found 'art journaling.' That was what I was doing all the time, but in an inhibited way. I somehow knew that what I did wasn't the traditional 'scrapbooking' but I had no clue which way my 'art' should go. After my discovery, I started my first art journal, using songs of Leonard Cohen as my inspiration. This page is from that journal, and it was an eye-opener to new ways of creating."

Katherine Labbe AKA Miz Katie "Be Still, Child. This comes from a vivid memory I have of my mom, and how she would tell me to stand outside in the snow with a tiny piece of bread on my hand. She said if I was quiet and still enough, a bird would land on me, and I would get to feed him. Aw! Of course I wanted to do that! But I was a hyper little thing and I could never make myself stand still long enough...so I had to create a painting. There! Be still and let the bird land in your hand, child."
Pam Carriker
"I was feeling the DaVinci muse calling and love the feeling this simple sketch has. I've scanned and reused the rough sketch of this face in many other pieces of art and even had it made into a stamp. I love that I've been able to paint it, use it in my journal, stamp it, and create many pieces of art all from one sketch."
Sharmon Davidson "Dimensional Shift is about intense change, and probably came out of an effort on my party to make sense of the chaos that was my life at the time. The map on the left is the physical world, which gives way to the cosmos and then spiritual realm, symbolized by the sri yantra (configuration of triangles) in the background. The gold figure, though torn apart, is spiritually intact - the chakras are not broken, and the wings indicate the ability to transform and move freely between realities. The darker figure emerging from it is simply the self in another dimension."
Lottie Anderson "I have finally broken away from painting or mark making to create what the figure looks like but how the figure s feel to me. I am starting to let go, to do less thinking about the work and instead responding to what is happening on the support."
Jacki Long "She was four. Not a beauty, yet not all the way plain. Tiny, not tall. Brown hair and browner eyes. Probably not unlike any four year old, except for her quiet intensity. A seriousness uncommon to those so young.
A single child, long by handsome parents. But they had their own problems, both individually and together which left the girls with lots of alone time. Time for thoughts and dreams. Maybe, in some ways, she was older than either her parents,but she seemed to accept that as a given.
She could sit alone in her parents closet occupied by her thoughts, oblivious to the shouting coming from the kitchen. She wasn't there as punishment, rather by choice.  She had visions of places far away, exotic people and locals, where she had been or would be..."
Natasha White "This was a painting that was entered into my first juried art exhibition to celebrate Matariki, the Maori New Year. It is titles Coming Home Bravely and it is about new beginnings and finding our way. Charging forth bravely on stormy seas and having faith that there is a guide bigger than us directing the seas that surround us, bringing us home to ourselves. This come out very differently to how I had originally seen it in my head, but I am glad I followed my intuition and let it come out this way."
Lelainia N. Lloyd "West Coast. This self portrait was taken on Mother's Day with my then brand new Canon Rebel and it was the first time I'd used a DSLR camera. I surprised myself by capturing something that is so quintessentially me and speaks so clearly to my life here on the West Coast of Canada. To me it's a piece of visual poetry. What made me even more proud of this image was that I did nothing to it - what you see is what I shot."
dorit Elisha "This collage represents me, my personality and my artistic style. It is done on a vintage map, and although it is very large, it serves as a journal page that demonstrates the busy life of a women artist who is also a mother, a wife, a professional worker etc. Life indeed for me is a five ring circus, which is also the name of my blog."
Kelly Kilmer "I work in journal form so my work tends to be very persona;. I have built up a visual vocabulary of symbols and images that speak fro me. I am always searching for peace (both in myself and the world around me). This pages visualizes one of those fragile moments where I am searching, yet as I search, I am attaining a small moment of peace as I work quietly in my journal."
"I am Descended from. It's the black and white with photos of the women in my family who came before me and my grand daughter. They are my two grand mothers, maternal and paternal aunts, and mother. The words around the small art quilt say 'I am descended from women who sewed and knit drew painted and photographed...I pass on the you in me to my grandchildren with love...Thank you grandmothers mothers and aunts'."
Liz Hampton-Derivan
"A Night in June was created for a Day of the Dead show at Central School Project Art Gallery, Bisbee, Arizona, in 2009. It is a tribute to my mother who dies of cancer in 2005. The piece is a mixed media/encaustic installation incorporating photographs of my mother, her poetry, and things he loved, such as chocolate, champagne, and white roses. It was a meaningful way for me to express my love/feelings for my mother."
Erin Perry "I mounted a solo show last year called The Pity of War, featuring mixed media collages of WWI and WWII. These all brought up poignant feelings, but one piece in particular - What Price Safety, What Price Love - grabs my heart every time I look at it. Three young children waiting at King's Cross Station London in 1940, to be taken to the country, away from the horrors of bombing and away from the only home they've ever known. At the show, evacuees, now in their 70s and 80s stood before this piece with tears in their eyes."
Anne M. Huskey-Lockard "Art, science, medicine and life used to be intertwined. From the days of the Staff of Asclepius to the present, humanity continues to seek healing on many levels but ultimately we are finite creatures. Art is healing."------------------------------------------
Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, October 21st.[image error]

Art is You: redux

I recently returned from Art is You , the art retreat held annually in Stamford, Connecticut. It is hard to put into words the experience and feelings that go along with attending an art retreat. Those of you who have been to a retreat know what I am talking about. And those who haven't...well it is time to get your butts to one of the many retreats that take place across the country every year.

Perhaps the best way to share my experience at Art is You is through images..
There is the opportunity to take classes with amazing teachers. These are just a few of the instructors whose classes I crashed my first day there...

Tracy Verdugo from Australia. Gotta love an artist who works on the floor!
Jodi Ohl, whose vibrant work always brings a smile to my face.
Michael deMeng showing off a doll's head. That's Eileen Bellomo next to him. Hey Eileen.
There is the opportunity to visit with old friends and meet so many new ones. There is nothing like meeting in person somebody that you have "known" very well for years online...

Leighanna Light and Sallianne, who along with Ellen, runs this retreat and runs it perfectly!
The Js...Joanne Sharpe and Joanna Pierotti. And of course the horse, who made quite a splash at the Art Trunk.
The one-of-a-kind Kecia Deveney, who I happily was placed next to at the Art Trunk.
There were many opportunities to give back...
This is just part of the huge raffle table filled with artwork and supplies that were raffled off for charity.
Nope...these aren't art bloggers. They are just a few of the amazing figures made by some of the instructors that were part of the raffle prizes.
There were surprises...
This is my amazing name tag/neck pouch. Ellen made over 300 of these and each was unique!!
There was of course food and drink, which was served in style...
We all needed fuel to keep us going with the art frenzy.
I taught my workshop 52 Card Pickup with the best class of students ever...and yes, I say that every time!
Worker bees...
We painted...



And collaged...




9 of 52 cards from Esta Berman-Price
We made a mess on our tables...

The sign of a happy artist!
The sign of an even happier artist!!
And we put it all together to make special journals, using a deck of cards to make 52 spots to journal each week for a year.

From &rew Borloz, who gets the 'working fast' prize!
And the townspeople rejoiced...

I am already looking forward to next year!

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I had so much fun teaching 52 Card Pickup that I am going to do it again. You can join me on December 2 at Little Bird Creations Studio in NYC for a full day workshop. Bring your deck of cards and be ready for a fury of painting and collaging. As of the time I am writing this post, there are 3 open seats left. Info and registration: here.


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Playing Favorites: Chapter 8

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.
Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...


Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
------------------------------------------
Kathryn Dyche Dechairo
"Ablaze. The texture represents the many layers to life while the red tree represents love, emotions and strength."


Victoria Payne "The Mandrake was my first breakthrough piece circa about 2005. He was the first manifestation of my art experiments that joined my figurative drawing and my love of dimensional embroidery."
annie! "One of my favorite pieces of art is my rendition of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. I've always loved the original and thought about making it in fabric for years. I used scraps (exclusively) that most would throw away."
Rachel Whetzel
"I made this piece from bits and pieces during my time spent beach combing on the Oregon coast. It reminds me of the time we used to spend on the coast camping when I was a kid, and the hours we would spend looking for treasures there. All of the pieces remind me of all the weeks spent by the campfire, or in our trailer, reading books and drinking hot coco with marshmallows."
Laura Lein-Svencner "She Walks With Me. This is a picture I made of myself at age 86...which I'm not. It's structure is made of cardboard brown paper bags and denim jeans with yarn and natural found objects. I have always pictured myself as a woods woman from a very young age...that was my safe haven to go, it's where I felt I belonged. 
Stephanie Brouwers "My favorite piece of art is what I call my Voodoo necklace. It's a never ending piece...a few times a year it gets an update. This necklace is about connections. Connections with the past - some elements are pretty old - and connections with people - some elements were given to me be friends from all over the world and some are part of the history of my family."
Sharon Read "This is one in a series of 60+ spirals of the soul that contain remnants of fabrics, text. papers, small bits and pieces of prints, and oddments of my life. These little bundles were put together to represent my memories all bundled up and safe within me. Some are bound whilst others were open to see a little of the narrative."
Susan Madden "This is one of my favorite pieces because I like the layered and dimensional look I got and I also like the texture the thick watercolor paper imposed on the surface. I also like the fact that I haven't nailed this piece down yet (or framed it), as I continue to add marks to it every time I pull it out of the almost drawer."
Maude May
"we only have this moment. An unexpected snow, a lovely midnight walk with my dog, through our silent neighborhood. Capturing moments to create and share my vision is what I live for."
Diane Ferguson "A double woven tube with Deconstructed Screen Printing is the result of taking a risk. Hand weaving cloth is a time consuming process and using DSP on it is a split second leap of faith. Another Opening reinforced my desire to combine these techniques for unexpected results."
Deryn Mentock "Home Town is a piece I created for my mom, who also happens to be one of my best friends. It's made with elements that hold great meaning for her...and myself. It's a heirloom piece..filled with memories."

Cory Celaya "Mauve Morning Cuff. I love to create art jewelry with off the wall and found object materials. Taking odd materials, fabric, paint, and heat, then turning it into something totally different is my passion."
Gail Pierce "This is the first fabric art piece that wasn't a struggle for me; everything fell into place. Purple and yellow aren't colors I normally choose, but the fabric was on my worktable directly under the black/grey piece of fabric, serenipitious perhaps? The focal point fabric was also on my worktable. The three fabrics used in this piece were either hand-dyed or printed in my studio."
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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, October 14th.[image error]

Art is...

This Saturday, 10/6, I will be participating in the Art Trunk as part of the retreat Art is You. 

This will take place at the Sheraton in Stamford, Connecticut. The event is open to the public and you do not need to be part of the retreat to attend. The sale runs from 6-9pm and will include 40+ vendors selling art and art supplies. I have been in the studio as much as possible over the last month and will have many new pieces to sell. And look for what doesn't sell at the retreat to be placed in my Etsy shop soon after.

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This Quartz is a Gem

Issue number 14 of PASTICCIO QUARTZ has arrived. Sarah Fishburn and Angela Cartwright are the writers, artists, and masterminds behind this QUality ART Zine. This is definitely one of my most favorite publications out there and I have all 14 issues. Pasticcio is like a professionally published book. While it is filled with art and stories about art and artists, one of the things I love the most is the variety of themes and topics it covers. 

On these 60 pages you will find movie quips, word play, bookplate samples, artist Q & A, an art history lesson, book reviews, recommended links, a travelogue, multiple articles, and features from and about several different artists. And of course there is the Palais d'Art section, which highlights the artwork of more than 20 artists -- all of whom have not appeared in Pasticcio before.
I have to send out a thank you to Sarah and Angela for including in this issue the transcript of a conversation I had with the one and only Lisa Hoffman. In He Said, She Said we talk about our vulnerabilities as artists, the importance of art being accessible to all, the joy of painting, using up our art supplies, and more.
And I have to send out another, extra-special thank you to Sarah and Angela for including a review of my book, The Pulse of Mixed Media, and both of my workshop DVDs, Easy Mixed Media Surface Techniques and Easy Mixed Media Techniques for the Art Journal.
Just one small quote from the review (insert shameless plug here): "Unlike the book, which is filled with plenty of art and the musings of artists on their processes, the two DVDs are packed with the techniques used by the author himself in the construction of his fantastically layered, generally abstract, art. While experienced mixed media artists may be familiar with many of the basics, Mr. Apter really does add his own spin to most of them."
You can purchase all 14 issues of Pasticcio here. [image error]

Playing Favorites: Chapter 7

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.
Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...


Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
------------------------------------------

Chris Miser
"I wanted to collage with tissue paper, but I never had before. I'd seen a woman create a huge canvas entirely out of bits of tissue, and I loved the effect. It reminded me of cubist works, mosaics, or pointillism. This is my first attempt at it, and I loved it. I learned that a woman who had just bought her first home alone loved it even more than I did, so it made me very happy to give it to her as a housewarming gift."

Arabella Grayson
"Mosaic Heart. I took what was available at the time - a red crayon, a page from the newspaper, a brown paper bag, my broken heart - and created something beautiful at a time of great uncertainty and despair. That first piece - a mosaic heart affixed to a piece of paper bag - affirmed my commitment to leading an authentic life...to being an artist."

Dina Wakley
"This art journal page is a tribute to all my art friends from all over the world. Birds of an 'art' feather flock together! I love to teach and create with like-minded artists. It's comfortable and fulfilling."

Trudi Sissons
"I love gardening and, in particular, I love irises. I used a photograph I had taken of one of the iris blossoms in my garden and created a digital illustration using images from Evelyn Ducote's stock - Vintage Paris. I love the feeling I get when I become entirely consumed by creating and seem to lose myself inside the art."

Judy Shea
"withlovefull. This piece has many textures in it from polymer clay to fabric to beeswax. It means serenity and love to me. This really shows that I am a very tactile artist. I want people to touch my art and feel the surface and the grain. I also tend to use colors that show a bit of my Middle East heritage."

Tari Goerlitz
 "Germerica is a multi-cultural portrait of my son. It's faceless because it isn't about him as an individual. It's about identity and how people keep trying to define 'what' children are when they are born to parents of different nationalities."


Eileen Bellomo "This piece was done for a fellow artist in one of the many collaborative art journals I have been involved in. It was a breakthrough piece for me, as I felt I was really finding my style in mixed media. Collage, photographs, junk mail, paint, ink, rubber stamping, paper piecing all found their way into this piece, and years later, I still love it." 


Patti Edmon

"The series of journals I made for my first commission was magically free from the devils of expectation. This one is one of my favorites because it symbolizes the essence of creating...a peaceful entry through endless doorways."


Donna Joy "As of this moment, this is a favorite for several reasons. There are several private pilots in our family - so the plane represents that. The little boy in his toy plane represents childhood - we all wanted to fly and had the gift of playing without even thinking about it. The actual art piece is one I created after not creating a thing for over 5 months. Made me feel like I might actually get my groove back."

Dave Dube...
 ...from the following still life
"Flash Gordon and Atlas Rocket Chalk. Although this piece is on new paper, I've tried to move off of the Old Paper occasionally to put some of these vintage ideas of mine in a new light. Thew slate and Rocket Chalk were given to my wife by her mother, and they in turn came from her Aunt Florence, who was a schoolteacher in the 30s in Oregon. The cartoon is a copy of a Flash Gordon comic strip panel that I own. The Atlas fruit jar is one in my collection."
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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, October 7th.[image error]

Book Bonanza

So many books, so little time. Here are just a few of the titles that I am looking forward to exploring...
Acrylic Solutions: Exploring Mixed Media Layer by Layer
This book from Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen looks like it will be a reference guide to refer back to again and again. It is hard-covered and spiral bound, so it will lay flat. We have to wait until April 2013   until it is released but it is available for pre-order now.
Art Journal Freedom: How to Journal Creatively With Color and Composition
I love Dina Wakley's creative style. Think splatters, splotches, scribbles, scratches, spritzes, splashes, and sprays. And of course color. This books looks to be a great combination of art gallery and art lesson. It goes on sale February 2013 but can be pre-ordered now.
Mixed Media Revolution: Creative Ideas and Techniques for Reusing Your Art
From Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson, the duo who brought us Surface Treatment Workshop. This book focuses on creative ways to reuse our own art and our scraps (and who doesn't have a ton of those?). Officially available in January 2013, it is currently available for pre-order.

Photo Craft: Creative Mixed Media and Digital Approaches to Transforming Your Photographs

Susan Tuttle and Christy Hydeck bring us Photo Craft, which highlights both digital and mixed media techniques to use with your photographs. There inclusion of apps and iPhoneography seems particularly useful. It releases in November 2013 but can be pre-ordered now.

Alternative Art Journals: Explore Innovative Approaches to Collecting Your Creativity
This book is hot off the presses, having just been released on September 19th. It looks to take art journaling off the traditional page and to provide a series of unique and non-traditional formats for journaling, including boxes, scrolls and cards.
Journal It!: Perspectives in Creative Journaling
This new book from Jenny Doh, due in December 2013, looks fantastic. It highlights the journal work of 19 artists, some very well known and some completely new to me. There are step-by-step journal projects, examples of journal pages, and tips. The range of styles is inspired. Pre-order now.
A Kiss Before You Go: An Illustrated Memoir of Love and Loss
The newest from Danny Gregory. This book shares the journal pages he created in the wake of his wife's death and may just be his most personal and intimate book to date. It is being released in November 2012 but is currently available for preorder.[image error]

Pulse Points

In 2010 a series of survey questions were posted on my blog as a means of ‘taking the pulse’ of the online art community. More than 40 questions were posed and the results of the survey was presented as sidebars in my book The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists Revealed. The survey tapped into a range of issues, both practical and psychological, related to being an artist today.

In Pulse Points, my new series beginning today on Create Mixed Media, select survey questions from the book were presented to several different groups of artists working in mixed media and beyond. 
Today's rockstar panel includes: Traci Bautista, Jane Davies, Linda Cain, Roben-Marie Smith, and Lynn Whipple.
Today's questions and original survey results from The Pulse of Mixed Media:
What would boost your creativity the most...More time…51%More space…37%More supplies…12%
Do you find yourself influenced by current trends...Absolutely, I love the newest trends…6%Yes, sometimes they have an impact on me…62%No, they do not effect the direction of my art…32%
And a taste of what our panel members had to say:
Traci Bautista: "I love to do what I call trending+inspiration trips to help inspire ideas for colors, materials, textures and design. These trips include visiting my favorite stores, fashion designers, traveling to different cites, scouring vintage, antique and home stores."
Jane Davies: "I think a studio elf who comes in and cleans and organizes every night would help me focus more on my work. I don't want things extremely neat and organized - but if I could just have a clear space to work in, I think it would help."
Linda Cain: "I have enough stuff to play with way beyond the time I will probably be on this earth. BUT...I want them all. I've said many times 'it's a lot easier to collect supplies than to actually use them.'"  
Roben-Marie Smith: "I have been spending too much time on activities that keep me from being in the studio. It is hard to create on demand and scheduling a few hours a week in the studio is just not working for me."
Lynn Whipple: "It's funny how certain themes will show up in lots of people's work seemingly at the same time, say...birds, for instance. I always thought it might have something to do with the collective unconsciousness."

Head on over to Create Mixed Media to hear much more of what the panel has to say about these issues. And if you would like, please share your own thoughts in the comment sections here or at CMM.
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Want to be part of the artist survey that will be included in my next book? I am currently posting 4 new questions weekly on the sidebar of my blog. Head on over now, cast your vote anonymously, and make your voice known. [image error]

Playing Favorites: Chapter 6

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.
Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, and It's Still Life were the first four projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The fifth project, Playing Favorites, continues now...


Participants were asked to: share a picture of a favorite piece of art that you have created and explain its meaning to you...
------------------------------------------
Shayla Perreault Newcomb
"This painting is called Dare to Rise and it looks similar to the landscape around Woodstock, N.B. I had lived there for 4 years in an unhealthy marriage and the area is full of unhappy memories for me. After revisiting the area,  I came back and painted this. The painting revealed itself as being about my first marriage. It stands for that first moment when you decide to make a change and the courage it takes to."

Annie Kerr
"In Snowdonia, North Wales, Y Lliwedd and Llyn Llydaw before the weather closed in. It brings back fond memories of hiking in the mountains and of the awesome power of such places."

judy sidonie tillinger
"This painting represents my trying a new (or untouched) medium in a place I am constantly drawn to - the southwest. This was done near Taos, New Mexico and it was the first time I had used oils in nearly 30 years after having been turned off them in art school."

Laura A. Pace
"This is Bottle House. It is a delightful house in New Zealand. I loved the way the lights hit it. The house has those wonderful round windows and the bottle shaped addition, all overlooking the water."

Cyn Richardson
"This is one of a series of small paintings, all 8" square, that are of 'Peeks' into my corner of Connecticut. They are all partial images of Victorian age mills, lamp posts on a bridge in Putnam, little images that you might catch just glancing around. This one is the Brooklyn Town Hall, using a reference photo I took. I love the way the flag is folded, looking like it will whip out in the wind in any second. It pleases me so much to be actually able to translate my photographs into paintings."

Marcia Beckett
"This work of art was created about 11 years ago. It is a view of the apartment complex I lived in during a year in college. The oil painting has nostalgic memories because I think of my life during that time. This was also one of my first forays into using color for a more expressive purpose."

Jill Zaheer
"My favorite painting titled Venice in Style was the first work I created since starting to art again. It was made by putting together a collage of photos I had taken in venice, drawing an outline of the painting I wanted to create with a black sharpie on my canvas, and then starting to paint away. The completion of this painting gave me the confidence to feel that I could really paint."
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Next "Playing Favorites" will be posted on Sunday, September 30th.[image error]

What's Your Point?

Coming soon to The Altered Page and to Create Mixed Media...
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Four new artist survey questions have been added to the sidebar of my blog. Share your thoughts and speak your mind anonymously. The polls are now open...